Cairo – North-Press Agency
Muhammad Abu Zaid
On Tuesday, an informed source with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Egypt said that no deaths or infections from coronavirus were reported among Syrians residing in Egypt so far.
The source, in exclusive statements to North-Press from Cairo, pointed out that no cases of the novel coronavirus were recorded in Egyptian hospitals, and the Egyptian Ministry of Health did not announce in its official statements about the infection of anyone carries Syrian citizenship and resides in its territories with the virus.
Before the end of March, the Egyptian Ministry of Health announced that a person of Libyan nationality, Libyan politician Mahmoud Jibril, was infected with coronavirus and was reported dead last week.
The source said: "UNHCR continues to do its part in accordance with the measures it has announced since the beginning of the crisis, and there has been nothing new in the aid it has provided to Syrians."
The source stressed that things are the same as they were before the coronavirus crisis and that UNHCR had not added any additional assistance more than it was providing, nor has it reduced it. However, it can cover a larger part, even exceptionally, by requesting additional funding because large segments of the Syrian population have been affected by the coronavirus crisis and preventative measures to prevent the spread of the virus, which has not happened so far.
The source said, "Basically UNHCR does not support all the Syrians present in Egypt, it only supports a specific number," noting that the commission cannot cover all those affected, and there is a role of responsibility on Syrian merchants, businessmen, and even Egyptians to support individuals and families affected by these measures."
He stated that Syrians, like all members of the Egyptian society, citizens and residents, were greatly affected by the measures taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and some of them left their work, and they are living in difficult situations and waiting for the current crisis to end until things return to the way they were.